ZIP 90038 vs ZIP 90028

This side-by-side compares ZIP 90038 (Los Angeles, CA) and ZIP 90028 (Los Angeles, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both — no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 90038 has a population of 28,917 at 7,127 people per square mile, while ZIP 90028 has 28,714 at 7,273 per square mile. That difference in population size and density alone reshapes how every other metric should be interpreted — a higher-income ZIP with 1,200 residents behaves very differently from one with 45,000.

On income and education, ZIP 90038 reports a median household income of $61,454 against $61,349 in ZIP 90028, with per-capita income of $46,071 vs $50,008. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 41.1% in 90038 and 51.1% in 90028. Poverty rate reads 20.5% vs 20.0%, and unemployment 8.0% vs 11.7% — these four fields alone drive most of the difference in the scorecard grades you will see for each ZIP.

Housing separates these two ZIPs further: median home value sits at $1,177,100 in 90038 versus $1,043,100 in 90028, with median rent of $1,789 and $1,899 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 8.2% vs 3.4%. When reading the comparison table below, focus on paired metrics rather than single winners — a ZIP with lower home values and lower income is not strictly "worse" if rent-to-income ratios and commute times land in the same zone. Every value is pulled from the exact same ACS table so the two columns are genuinely comparable.